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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22780426">City Storms</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/missgaga7/pseuds/missgaga7'>missgaga7</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It Was Always You [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bon Appétit Test Kitchen (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Baking, Family Fluff, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 15:55:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22780426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/missgaga7/pseuds/missgaga7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first of a series of stories following Claire Saffitz, Brad Leone and their three daughters...  Lulu, Margo, and Evie.</p><p>I love fluff, and think in a world with so much turmoil, we can all appreciate something light and pleasant!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brad Leone &amp; Claire Saffitz, Brad Leone/Claire Saffitz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It Was Always You [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699045</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>City Storms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The first of a series of stories following Claire Saffitz, Brad Leone and their three daughters...  Lulu, Margo, and Evie.</p><p>I love fluff, and think in a world with so much turmoil, we can all appreciate something light and pleasant!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The anchors from our local WABC-TV station said that this storm was going to be worse than the blizzard '78, which hit New York City and the rest of the country in an unexpected whirlwind of snow, delays, and school cancellations.</p><p>When I was little, my family used to tell us stories about that year, what at the time, seemed like tall tales of how every store, school, and business, up and down the East Coast, was closed for over a week. My Uncle would whistle just at thought of the site out their front door, miles and miles of a sea of fresh white snow. My Mom used to say that the snow was so high, she could pile three of her little cousins on top of one another, and they still could not see over the peaks.</p><p>At six, the mere concept of such a massive snowstorm completely enthralled my imagination. As a child, big storms meant no school, the roadways were a disaster, and side walk snow angels were out in full force.</p><p>Most of all, it meant a day off of nothing but pure frozen bliss.</p><p>Now, all these years later, I could not help but notice the similarities of this storm, to the stories my parents used to tell, and to the feelings I used to experience as a child.</p><p>We were in the midst of what had been deemed the snowstorm of the century. The "Snowpocolypse", as it had been nicknamed, had completed taken over the East Coast, and had left New York City immobilized in a frozen tundra.</p><p>The snow had begun to fall late yesterday afternoon, and the meteorologists predicted it would continue for the next 18 hours.</p><p>I cracked one eye open groggily, as I heard the sound of raucous laughter, and the thump of feet against the hardwood floor above us. We had been up for most of the night with the baby, and who still could not seem to sleep through the night.</p><p>"Girls are up..." Brad muttered, as he turned to face me, reaching out to pull me against his bare chest.</p><p>"I'm not ready yet..." I whined into his shoulder as he ran his fingers through my hair. I kept one hand between the scruff of his neck and his jawbone and the other against his chest as my body collapsed against his.</p><p>His skin was warm and the leftover musk of his body wash still lingered against his skin. I ran my fingertips over his chest, letting the warmth of his embrace comfort my soul. "They can take care of themselves just for today, right? It's a snow day, they don't even have to get ready for school," I mumbled softly as our littlest started to whimper in the cot next to me.</p><p>He kissed my forehead with a chuckle and a shake of his head, "Newsflash Safftiz: We've got another 18 years until that happens," he laughed. "They're lucky they're cute that we have no choice but to put up with their shenanigans," Brad said as I leaned over to pick the baby up. "And you, little one," he continued as I sat up and laid Evie against my legs, "are lucky you are the damn cutest little thing in the world, because it’s impossible for us to be mad at you for keeping us up the whole night."</p><p>"Mhm, you heard that, Evie?" I whispered, pressing a kissing to her cheek. "She's just needy, aren't you? The youngest in the family is always a little needy. You just want a little attention in the midst of all the chaos, don't you?"</p><p>"This one is going to be trouble, mark my words," Brad said rubbing his thumb over Evie's tiny bare foot.</p><p>"Knowing you, she is going to do whatever she wants," I smirked, before Evie cooed up at me, then looked up at Brad with a toothless grin, "oh my God, she knows," I laughed.</p><p>"See! Look at that! Barely 5 months old, and even she knows she's going to be trouble."</p><p>"I think we both know, we're going to be in trouble. Three teenage girls? God help us," I sighed.</p><p>"I can't - I can't --" Brad interrupted, as I let out a loud giggle.</p><p>"But --"</p><p>"I cannot think about that yet!" Brad insisted. "One day at a time!"</p><p>"Okay, okay, one day at a time is right," I agreed, as I pressed another kiss to her forehead and I brought her to my chest to nurse.</p><p>We could hear Lulu and Margo's footsteps getting louder as they marched down the stairs. Whispering was surely not one of their greatest talents, and although they tried, I could hear the high pitched squeaks of their voices echoing through the house.</p><p>"Mommy! Daddy!" Margo exulted loudly as Lulu flung the door open. The two brunette terrors had matching bed head hair, bare feet, and were wearing their favorite purple pajamas that looked like they had been mangled in their sleep.</p><p>"Happy Morning!" Lulu giggle as they skipped over to us and jumped on our king size bed to join us.</p><p>Margo looked like she had just been featured in an MC Hammer video, with her pajama pants having ridden halfway up her calf.</p><p>Lulu's long hair was still in the same braids I had done yesterday morning before we had gotten the call that school was cancelled for the next four days at least until the snow was over, and they could get the roads cleaned up enough to get the kids back at school.</p><p>They both jumped over the bottom of our bed, and began to crawl towards us.</p><p> "Good Morning, Girls," Brad bellowed with a laugh, as he grabbed both of them before they could reach the top of the bed, put the two girls in between us, and started to tickle their little bodies.</p><p>"Stop! Daddy, stop!" Lulu screamed in between a fit uncontrollable laughter. Although I still felt exhausted, their laughter felt like the most beautiful melody. There's just something about a child's laughter, especially when it's that deep, guttural laughter, that just makes your heart feel this unconditional warmth.</p><p>"Mama, help!" Margo gasped. Their cheeks were pink from laughter, and I could tell that the tips of their noses were chilled from pressing their faces up against the frozen window pane to see the snow outside.</p><p>"Okay, okay, Daddy, let these poor girls free," I said as I cradled Evie close to me.</p><p>"Alright... alright, good morning girls," Brad chuckled as they grinned trying to catch their breath.</p><p>"Well, now I'm exhausted!" Lulu exhaled dramatically as she fell backwards against the cushions.</p><p>"Exhausted! Well, we've got a big day ahead of us," I explained, as Margo came to snuggle next to me.</p><p>"Can we go sledding, Daddy?" Lulu asked as she crawled over to Brad, and he kissed her forehead.</p><p>"And make a snowman like Elsa and Anna, Daddy? And maybe Nana and Papa come over to make cookies and, and —" Margo squeaked excitedly.</p><p>"We can do whatever you want. Let's let Mommy finish feeding, Sissy, and then we'll get some breakfast and make a plan, got it?" Brad suggested, and they both nodded feverishly.</p><p>"Go get dressed," I said, as Brad placed Lulu on the ground while Margot crawled to the edge of the bed on her hands and feet, hoped to the ground and scurried off to catch up with her sister.</p><p>—</p><p>"Daddy, come down with me again!" Margo laughed, placing her little red sled back on the ground after she had made her way back up the Cedar Hill sledding hill in Central Park. The meteorologist had predicted the snow would slow down midday, and then would pick up again in the early afternoon, so we had taken advantage of the brief calm to take the girls out now.</p><p>"Alright, alright, hold on," Brad chuckled. He would stay out here for hours if they wanted to.</p><p>Brad had been out here with the girls for about a half hour before I had ventured out into the cold. Evie asleep and wrapped up in sling under my coat with a warm pink knit hat. <br/>
When Evie was a little older, I would be back on the slopes sledding with the girls, but for now I was just happy to be with my baby. Plus, the view of Brad's butt from here was nothing I could complain about.</p><p>For a matter of less than 15 seconds of sliding down the massive hill, it took Lulu a solid 10 minutes to get back up, and Margo even longer. With Brad's help, the three of them would trudge, step by step, in their puffy white snow outfits up the hill. Sometimes they would walk, or other times they would plead Brad to carry them on his back or to pull them on the sleds back up to the top.</p><p>Brad would always say it was his best work out of the month.</p><p>"Here I come!" Lulu yelled as she plunged head first down the hill. "Watch out Charlie!" She screamed with a laugh at our dog, who was bounding around the snow, trying not to sink, as Lulu plummeted back down the hill.</p><p>"Brad! Make sure she's careful!" She was the daredevil of the family, the kid had guts. She would tried try anything, jump off of anything, talk to anyone – ask her and she'd do it. "Pretty soon, you'll be out there with Daddy too. But for now, you can just hang out with Mommy," I whispered to the sleeping baby.</p><p>–</p><p>"Margo, careful with the –"  I grimaced as I watched my four year old trip and the bag of flour that was half her size fall to the floor, "flour".</p><p>"Oops, sorry, Mama," she whispered, looking up at me, then back down at the ground where the bag of flour had exploded all over the floor.</p><p>"Claire, the fronts all shov–eled," Brad stuttered as he entered the room, "What in the world happened here?" He guffawed as he pulled his beanie and gloves off and put them on the counter top. "I thought we were going to leave the snow outside," he chuckled, taking Evie from me.</p><p>I sniffed my nose and pulled my hair back before kneeling down to her level. "That's ok, Baby, it's just flour, let's get this cleaned up," I said, licking my thumb and wiping her face with it.<br/>
Her pink leggings were now white with flour and I had to hold my laughter at the sight. "Go get some clean clothes on and we'll clean up and we can keep making cookies when you come back down," I said reassuringly as she leaned over the mess, pecked a kiss to my lips and ran upstairs.</p><p>"Well, if we needed any more proof that she's mine," Brad smirked.</p><p>"That right there was 100% Leone, 100%."</p><p>"There's another bag in the pantry, I'll grab that and the broom, or maybe the shovel," Brad chuckled.</p><p>–</p><p>"Well, well, well, look who's awake,"  Brad announced as I came in with Evie who had just woken up from a nap.</p><p>"She's still tired from all this snow," I explained as I nuzzled her nose, and kissed her flushed cheek. I sat down by the countertop, as the girls prepared their cups of hot chocolate.</p><p>"Woah, Margo, cool it on the marshmallows," Brad teased playfully.</p><p>"That's the best part of the hot chocolate, Daddy," she rolled her eyes as she reached across the table to grab with both hands the can of whipped cream.</p><p>"Taste good, Daddy?" Lulu turned to Brad as he bit into a cookie. He grimaced slightly with a confused smile. "I made it all by myself!"</p><p>His eyes widened as he understood. "Ohh.. wow, delicious!" He nodded to please her but then looked up at me as we both tried to hold back laughter.</p><p>In true Lulu fashion, she had dumped an extra cup of sugar in her bowl, for extra "sweetness". As a mother, I tried to not control every thing our girls did. Although, my intuition told me to protect them at all costs, and perfectionist nature urged me to fix everything, I had realized early on, some of the greatest gifts I could give them were self-expression, growth, and confidence.</p><p>Lulu craved independence, and although she was only 6, we did our best to make her feel confident in the strong-willed little lady she was, though her endeavors did not always lead to the best results.</p><p>If she wanted a sugary sweet cookie, so be it. The only one who might suffer the results would be Brad, who would always grin and bare the taste to make his daughters happy.</p><p>The good news was, I almost always had a better batch to discreetly switch in so everyone was happy.</p><p>"Behind you, Brad," I motioned, pointing discretely to the sheet of cookies I had made.</p><p>"Delicious, Lu, really, better than Mommy's," he nodded convincingly, before he turned to grab one of mine. "Now, that's more like it," he said under his breath, winking at me.</p><p>–</p><p>"Looks like the snow finally stopped..." I whispered. It was 10:45 pm, Aladdin was still playing in the background, and we had somehow ended up on the floor of our family room with the three girls curled up close to us. Evie was sleeping soundly on Brad's chest, Lulu was cuddled up next to me on my left, and clutching tightly one of my legs, while Margo had her head resting on Brad's shoulder.</p><p>"Not a bad way to end the day..." he whispered, reaching out towards me.</p><p>"I wouldn't mind being stuck like this forever," I said as pressed my lips against his.</p><p>"As long as we don't have to have Aladdin in loop anymore, then I'm all for it," he muttered with a smirk.</p><p>"Let's get these girls to bed and finish our day where we left off," I smirked. "Ready?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! I would really appreciate it if you commented and let me know what you think!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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